Black and White
"Black and White" is the sixteenth episode of RWBY and the final episode of Volume 1, which premiered on the Rooster Teeth website on November 7th, 2013. Summary The episode picks up where "The Stray" left off, with Sun Wukong and Blake Belladonna sitting at a table at a small café. Sun celebrates that Blake has finally decided to actually talk to him for the first time during the two days they spent together. After asking Sun if he knows about the White Fang, who he describes as holier-than-thou creeps, Blake admits that she was once one of them, much to his surprise. She then explains her past with the White Fang and its origins, starting by noting that one could say she was born into it. She continues by stating that after the Faunus Rights Revolution, the White Fang was created as a symbol of peace and unity between the Humans and Faunus. However, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were still treated as inferior, so the White Fang became the voice of their people. Ever since childhood, Blake stood with them at every protest, boycott and rally, thinking that they were making a difference. However, five years ago, their leader was replaced by someone with violent and radical ideals. Their new leader replaced the group's peaceful protests with organized attacks and hijackings against businesses that refused to serve them or used Faunus labor. Hating what the White Fang had become, she left and decided to use her combat skills to instead become a Huntress. Sun stares, stunned, before asking if she told her friends any of this. Meanwhile, the rest of Team RWBY have begun searching for Blake. Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long defend Blake and want to hear her side of the story, but Weiss Schnee still sees her as a criminal and suggests getting the police to help locate her, an idea which is instantly and firmly rejected. As they talk, Penny Polendina appears behind the group, complimenting Weiss' hair. She then asks what the team is doing. They mention looking for Blake and how she has been missing since Friday, leading Penny to vow to help find her. Ruby tries to brush her off, but when she turns to Weiss and Yang for help, she finds that they have left her with Penny. Meanwhile, Sun and Blake formulate a stakeout plan to see if the White Fang really is behind the Dust robberies, while elsewhere, Yang and Weiss continue looking for Blake. Weiss states that she is afraid of what Blake will say when they find her, noting that innocent people don't run away. After hearing this, Yang looks down in thought. Ruby, still alone with Penny, tries to explain the situation happening with Weiss and Blake, but Penny has problems figuring out if they are friends or not, as she does not have a lot of friends. When Ruby says that Blake did not talk to them before running away, Penny states that if she did have a friend, she would want them to talk to her. That night, Blake and Sun meet on a rooftop at the port for their stakeout, watching over a huge shipment of Schnee Dust Company Dust from Atlas. After a bit of banter, with Blake criticizing Sun for stealing food, a Bullhead lands and several White Fang members come out. Blake admits to Sun that she did believe that White Fang was behind the crimes, but did not want to be right. Roman Torchwick then leaves the jet and orders the White Fang members around, referring to them as animals. Knowing that the White Fang would never work with a human, Blake is shocked and confused. She then proceeds to confront them by sneaking up behind Roman and placing the sharp part of the back of Gambol Shroud to his neck while aiming its pistol toward the White Fang members. When she asks them why they are working for him, Roman says it is part of a business venture. Soon, more Bullheads appear, distracting Blake and allowing Roman to escape her grasp by firing a shot from Melodic Cudgel near her feet. He then proceeds to fire more shots at her, and she gymnastically dodges every blast before retreating. As Roman goes after her, Sun comes out to distract him and takes out several White Fang members in the process. Roman attempts to start a fight with Sun, but after Sun blocks the first attack, Blake leaps between them claiming the fight as hers. She repeatedly uses her Semblance in quick succession to confuse him, leaping around him while dual wielding Gambol Shroud. However, Roman is still able to keep up with her, barely managing to block all of her attacks and laughing as he lands two hits on her before he finally manages to knock her down with a third hit. Without missing a beat, Sun jumps in and attacks Roman with the nunchucks form of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, but again, Roman is able to block all incoming attacks, laughing once more. However, Blake comes in for a surprise attack, knocking him away from Sun. Roman then shoots down a hanging shipping container, which lands between Sun and Blake as they dive out of the way. He takes this chance to corner Sun, aiming his cane at him. Before he can shoot, Ruby arrives on a nearby rooftop, having been alerted by the explosion from Roman knocking Blake away, and Roman recognizes her. However, when Penny distracts Ruby, Roman exploits the distraction to attack Ruby and hits her, knocking Ruby to the ground, instantly disarming her in the process. This angers Penny, and she joins the fight, unleashing Floating Array from her back. She easily takes out a large squad of White Fang members and uses her weapon's lasers to slice through two Bullheads that were providing air support. Using the wires on her swords, she manages to drag a third one out of the sky and pull it to the ground, destroying it. Amid this, Roman escapes on a fourth Bullhead, which flies away. After the fight, Weiss and Yang rejoin the group, and Ruby tries to resolve the differences between Weiss and Blake. However, Weiss states that in the twelve hours that she has been looking for Blake, she has had time to think and has come to the decision that she does not care about Blake's past, saying instead that the next time something big happens, she should talk to her teammates about it, instead of relying on someone else. Blake agrees and slightly sheds a tear. Weiss then tells Sun that she still does not know how she feels about him. Ruby is happy that the team is back together, but then notices that Penny is missing. Penny is seen to be watching the scene from a car, while a man tells her that she should not be running around the city by herself. He then tells her that her "time will come" as he drives away. Meanwhile, Ozpin watches Ruby from a Scroll and gets a message from Qrow Branwen, telling him that the "Queen has pawns." After the credits, Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black appear in the warehouse where Roman is hiding. Roman blames the failure on the Faunus, but she says he will continue to work with the White Fang, as "we" have big plans for Roman. Transcript }} Characters *Emerald Sustrai }} ;Minor Characters *White Fang Goon voiced by Chris Martin *Detectives *Penny's Driver voiced by Alan Abdine Trivia *The episode title may either refer to Blake and her history with the White Fang or to the reconciliation at the end of the episode between Blake and Weiss. **It may also refer to Blake's views regarding the fact that the White Fang were working with "scum" like Torchwick, "black and white" being an age-old adage meant to imply a clear distinction, such as between right and wrong, good and evil, or, as in this case, likely the difference between Humans and Faunus. **It may also refer to the fact that not everything is "black and white". *Ruby's line: "She does like tuna a lot..." was ad-libbed by her voice actress Lindsay Jones.[https://youtu.be/hoNFKaTQ0VQ?t=22m22s MCM London Comic Con 2016: RWBY Panel] *When Penny knocks down a group of White Fang members a bowling pin sound is heard. This sound effect is later used again in the episode "Best Day Ever". *When the two Bullheads were destroyed by Penny's attack, the ''RWBY'' Rex can be seen falling along with the White Fang members. *In the directors' commentary on the DVD/Blu-ray, Miles sees this episode for the first time and, at first, expresses anger and exasperation that Monty had Penny cut two Bullheads in half. This is because he and Kerry had been resisting the urge to have characters cut things in half, due to feeling that they weren't strong enough to do so yet. However, he calms down and says Penny is allowed to because she is powerful. *The events of "Black and White" are re-told in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 of RWBY: The Official Manga. See Also *Battle Pages **Blake and Sun vs. Roman and White Fang **Ruby and Penny vs. Roman and White Fang *Commentaries **Directors Commentary *Inconsistencies *Leitmotifs Image Gallery 1116 Black and White 01425.png|Tell me about yourself 1116 Black and White 01673.png|"You were part of a terrorist group?" 1116 Black and White 02751.png|"We used to be protestors" 1116 Black and White 05958.png|"Are you looking for your Faunus friend?" 1116 Black and White 10283.png|Stakeout or a date? 1116 Black and White 12039.png|I'd listen to her if I was you 1116 Black and White 15464.png|A duel of Gun-staffs 1116 Black and White 17107.png|I'm Combat Ready! 1116 Black and White RWBYSaurus.png|Bullheads being sliced in half. 1116 Black and White 21187.png|Back together again! 1116 Black and White 21956.png|The Queen has pawns. 1116 Black and White 27579.png|And here they are! Video References Category:Episodes Category:Volume 1